Network variety show is produced by production institutions, such as video website network audio and video broadcast services and platform position, give full play to network technology for a variety of artistic style in the second creation, both the original style of art form, and the special art functions of network audio-visual performance method, provide the audience with cultural entertainment and aesthetic pleasure form of audio-visual programmes.[1] The communication technology represented by the Internet constantly promotes the development of network variety, and also enables the "old audience" who receive information in the traditional sense of "unidirectional" to complete the identity transformation and enter the perspective of media research as a "new audience" together with new media technology. The reason for adding the word "new" in front of the audience is to mark the changes of the audience with the word "new", so as to distinguish the audience growing up in the traditional media environment.[2] "New audience" refers to the "active communicators" who have grown up in the Internet new media environment, the young and active network users, and the young generation who have been born with the Internet and grown up in digital entertainment.[3]

 

There is an audience, there is a need for content. This paper makes an inventory of online variety shows from the perspective of "new audiences", summarizes the development of online variety shows in 2019, explores the reasons behind their continued popularity, and tries to explore the future development direction of online variety shows based on the analysis of the application of new technologies.

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I. "New audience" brings "new scale" of network variety viewing

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As the audience's viewing habits gradually shift from TV to mobile, the scale of China's online video users continued to hit new highs in 2019, reaching 749 million, an increase of 22.4% over 2018.[4]

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Behind the new high scale of Internet video users is the obvious characteristic of "new media usage habits", that is, the rise of new audience groups accustomed to using mobile phones.As variety shows enter the networked era, their users are also changing.According to Tencent video data, more than half of the people who watched variety shows on video websites in 2018 were born in the 1990s, and 80% of the users who watched online variety shows came from mobile terminals.Traditional TV variety shows are continuously declining due to the solidification of content style and the decline of traditional media. The Internet, which emphasizes discourse equality and two-way communication, has become the dominant media at present.[5] Relying on Internet communication, online variety shows its huge development potential.With the support of big data and algorithm recommendation technology, audiences can  receive targeted content push and subculture content different from traditional TV variety shows on the video platform.

 

II. "New audience" promotes the "new way" of network variety production

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The change of the broadcasting platform of variety shows from TV to Internet is not only a simple replacement of media migration, but also a change in the production mode of variety shows. In 2019, online variety shows new characteristics in terms of production input and production duration.

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(i) Investment in self-made online variety shows increased

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An obvious feature of online variety shows in 2019 is the introduction of models and the reduction of the importance attached to celebrity blessing.Instead, the model is old new, homemade content investment is increasing.

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Around 2013, "introducing mature program mode + acting by well-known domestic artists = hot style variety shows" is an equation that can be established.Before that, stars' presence in variety shows was low.With the introduction of programs such as "Running Bar", "Extreme Challenge" and "Dad, Where Are We Going?", a series of outdoor reality shows with celebrities as MC have made celebrity guests an important factor for the success of variety shows.The audience in the real, intense game link peep star's real life state, such as the female star without makeup with delicate makeup on weekdays rolling mire, the male star to play the game to win funny, idol singer how to get along with their children...Reality shows bring celebrities' private lives into the public eye, and at the same time enrich their images through "human design", thus giving them a new space to improve their careers. Many celebrities even turn red through variety shows.

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However, the blowout of reality shows seriously consumes the audience's desire to watch, and the era of "all stars are variety shows" is hardly sustainable.With the increasing form and content of variety shows seen by the audience, their requirements on the quality of variety shows have also increased accordingly. For example, certain requirements have been put forward for the stage design, competition system and lens language of variety shows. The mere piling of stars can no longer meet the needs of the audience. Under this background, the era of innovative production forms of network variety shows has come.

 

At the same time, with the rapid accumulation of user groups and the gradual formation of the habit of paying to watch, the market of network integration, a cake containing numerous opportunities, has also begun to be valued by capital. The massive capital injection makes the big platforms increasingly competitive in copyright.For example, Tencent video, iQIYI, youku and other platforms have invested heavily in the copyright of variety shows in order to win traffic and paid user resources. To cut the cost of buying copyright, capable platforms are starting to invest more in home-made content.In 2018, for example, iQIYI spent more on homemade content than it spent on copyright.By 2019, the cost of homemade content will have fallen as actors' salaries have fallen, but iQIYI's spending on homemade content will have increased significantly. Wang xiaohui, chief content officer and President of iQIYI's professional content business group, introduced that iQIYI's content investment in 2019 exceeded 20 billion yuan, and the number of self-produced key variety shows online increased by over 21% year on year, and the investment and number of all kinds exceeded the copyright variety shows. IQIYI's increased investment in home-made content has also generated positive market feedback.In the middle of 2019, hit shows summer in the band and the second season of new rap in China increased iQIYI's membership by 50% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.

 

(ii) The new trend of "miniaturization" into network integration

 

With the rise of short video, online variety shows are also trying to reduce the length of the show.In recent years, in addition to investing in online variety shows, video platforms have also created personal micro variety shows for celebrities. The content is mainly based on the current hot topics, so as to show the personal charm of celebrities.As early as 2016, youku teamed up with jiashili and Lu Han team to create the micro variety "Hello Hello, is it Lu Han?", creating a precedent for star micro variety.After the show's launch, Youku quickly grew to 300,000 paying users and gave Jiashili 830 million exposures.In 2019, Youku teamed up with Jay Chou to launch a micro variety called "Travel Notes of The Week", which became the first magic variety of tourism in China.Tencent Video, in conjunction with Xinshixiang and Hotpot video, has produced an interview program called women 30+, which focuses on female topics.The six-minute episode has been streamed over 100 million times over 12 episodes.

 

Micro - variety has the characteristics of high precision and rapid transmission of ideas.Its strong pertinence and real-time interactive performance will bring more powerful entertainment experience to the audience.Integrating the style of short video into variety shows may become a new development trend of network variety shows.At the same time, the theme selection of micro-variety is more layered, the content construction is more scene. Under the content ecology of big data and algorithm recommendation, the expansion of vertical content and precise video delivery enrich the diversity of platform videos and increase the stickiness of users.Compared with the production scale of ordinary online variety shows, micro-variety producers can greatly reduce their brand promotion and production costs, and win more users with less investment.This shows, "miniaturization" or will become the network variety of the next draught.

 

With the strong development momentum of micro variety shows, major video platforms are trying to combine long and short variety shows to explore new variety models while launching independent IP micro variety shows.For example, Youku launched hip-hop Callout, a micro variety show of Hip-hop dance.IQIYI launched the derivative micro variety "crazy talk season 5" "crazy talk ICU", "youth with you" derivative micro variety "youth art club", "national wind beauty boy" derivative micro variety "national wind beauty to listen to kneel", "national wind beauty to explode"; Tencent Video launched "My Pet is an Elephant" derivative micro variety "Like" Me "and" Create camp 2019 "derivative micro variety" Big Island Diary ". Micro-variety shows can be spread on short video platforms and obtain traffic by reproducing original variety shows. Accordingly, the original variety shows also bring extra flow due to the derivative micro-variety shows, bringing more three-dimensional viewing experience to the audience. It can be seen that the short video platform can match, co-exist and prosper with the content product form of micro-variety.

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III. "New Audiences" : Constructing the "New Pattern" of network variety

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(i) The popularity of idol development programs is still the same, the observation of programs blowout

In 2019, the network platforms, mainly youku, iQIYI, Tencent video and mango TV, borrowed the existing popularity of idol cultivation variety shows and launched a new season one after another.Based on the fan base, such programs as Youth with You, Creation Camp 2019, In the Name of the Group and Children of Tomorrow (Season 3) all performed well.These "General N generation programs" still maintain great market competitiveness due to their good fan base, active competition system reform and development of online and offline activities.

 

In 2019, the development of observation variety shows is in an all-round way.In this year, a series of observation variety shows focused on all kinds of emotions appeared: "Heartbeat 2" and "Like You and Me" focused on the topic of urban youth dating, "My Favorite Women" explored the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and "Freshman Diary" focused on pregnancy and second child.At the same time, various platforms are also seeking breakthroughs in the theme of variety shows. The Man Who Does Housework takes male stars' housework as the entry point and calls for the return of male family responsibilities."Me and My Agent" focuses on domestic agency companies, and takes the relationship between artists and agents as the entry point to explore the workplace culture and satisfy the audience's desire for snooping. The Fascinating Offer looks at the workplace and discusses the performance of interns who have just come out of college.

 

(ii) Program category segmentation, focusing on the focus of the market

In 2019, platforms pay more attention to the category segmentation of online variety shows and produce variety shows of various categories for each market segment, focusing on more concrete entry points and themes."Summer of the Band" focuses on the trend of culture, to regain the feelings of rock; China's New Rap 2019 continues to explore the Chinese rap market; "This! This is Hip-hop 2" continues to focus on hip-hop culture; "The Beautiful Boy of National Wind" gives voice to traditional culture. The video website focuses on the vertical theme of more minority groups, takes the creativity as the new market breakthrough, and adopts the mainstream traditional production process, so that the minority group network integration stands out.

 

IV. "New audiences" bring "new opportunities" for the development of Online variety shows

 

When it comes to the future development of online variety shows, we need to focus on two aspects: first, what are the existing problems and how to solve them; The second is how to face the new technology.

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(i) To understand the development law of film and television industry and solve the problems in the industry

Judging from the overall quality of online variety shows in 2019, the old problems familiar to the industry still exist. For example, the ability of independent innovation is still weak. Since 2012, when the Voice of China achieved great success in the domestic variety show market, various video platforms have continuously introduced variety show forms from all over the world despite the continuous disputes over copyright. The successful variety forms in foreign countries seem to be the traffic guarantee for some video platforms to expand the market, for which the platforms are willing to pay a lot of money to buy the copyright. For example, the content homogenization phenomenon is still more prominent. Competition among video platforms is fierce. In order to attract users to the maximum extent, the launch of variety shows with contents similar to those of other platforms has become an important way for platforms to compete.For example, youku, iQIYI and Tencent video launched in the same period of time "in the name of the group", "youth has you" and "creation camp 2019" at almost the same time, allowing idol cultivation programs to cluster together.

 

In order to achieve breakthrough development, the video platform must constantly improve its independent innovation ability, and launch more competitive program forms by increasing investment in program r&d and innovation.

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(ii) Embrace new media technologies and optimize the program production process

4G technology widespread application directly accelerated the rapid development of short video platform, QuestMobile released "2019 half a short video industry insight report shows that as of June 2019, our country has more than 820 million short video user scale, more than 32% year-on-year growth, that is to say, has seven out of 10 mobile phone users is a short video platform to the user.The rise of short video platforms has also affected the dissemination of variety shows in terms of materials and speed.For example, this is street dance provides a large number of selected materials for douyin short video platform. A 15 second wonderful dance together with a small video of influential stars can attract a large number of users to watch and watch thumb up, which plays a positive role in the publicity and promotion of the program.

 

At the same time, the development of media technology makes interactive communication a reality.Among them, the application of real-time barrage system in variety shows breaks the limitation of the previous program dissemination, and forms the experience of watching together.In this way, variety shows form a discourse field similar to the community. In this virtual community, the audience can express their emotions and opinions, which to some extent reduces the loneliness of watching. In the process of using bullet screen, young people are not a kind of mindless carnival expression, but gain their own identity and generate creativity in the process of interaction.[6] In online variety shows in 2019, hosts and actors will take the initiative to put forward such words as "Bullet screen now hit 666" and guide the audience to interact through bullet screen. In addition, with the continuous development of AI voice recognition technology, the formation of bullet screens will be more convenient and efficient, and future variety show production will make innovations in the interaction with the audience through bullet screens.

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The development of 4G enables the audience of online variety shows to gradually "migrate" from the TV end to the mobile end, while the arrival of 5G will enable VR technology to be applied more, which also makes it possible for online variety shows to migrate to THE VR terminal.Immersive VR variety shows will bring a brand new viewing experience to the audience.The development of artificial intelligence is also affecting the production process of online variety shows.For example, in 2019, iQIYI created the "art pool" intelligent casting system for film and television series and variety show casting, which can provide a powerful reference for producers to select appropriate actors, greatly reducing the manpower and material resources required by traditional casting, and providing technical support for program production.

 

New audiences' understanding and aesthetic appreciation of variety shows are constantly improving, and the rapid development of technology lays a solid foundation for the rising entertainment industry. As a form of content with wide audience and strong entertainment, online variety has become an important part of the content consumption of "new audience".The application of new technologies to meet the content needs of "new audiences" is not only a challenge but also an opportunity for practitioners of online variety shows.

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References (reflecting the background and basis of the research in this paper)

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There are 5 online publishing repositories of Chinese academic journals

[1] Carnival and Rationality: A Study on the Use of Bullet screen by youth Groups -- A Case study of The Network variety show Creation 101 [J].Chen Zhijuan, Ding Liangqi. Studies on Chinese Youth. 2019(11)

[2] Reform, Hidden Worries and Breakthrough: Research on Network Variety Shows in the Context of New Media [J].Zhang Mingzhao, He Fangfei. Drama Home. 2019(31)

[3] Dwelling in the illusion and reality: Perspective of the Mental State of net-born Youth -- Based on the Perspective of cultural Psychology [J].Li Yinghua. Research on Chinese Youth. 2019(08)

[4] Blowout of Online variety shows in head Video Website competition -- Review and Reflection of 2018 Online variety shows [J].Li Suyan, Xu Chi. Modern Audio-visual. 2019(01)

[5] Internet "circle layer" communication and new audience's information response [J]. Zhou Dayong, Wang Xiuyan. Library Science Research. 2017(21)